A team of Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday arrived at Dibrugarh in Assam to review election preparedness in the Eastern Assam districts.
The ECI team led by Commission’s Director General Dharmendra Sharma is on a 2-day tour of Assam.
Soon after arrival at Dibrugarh in Assam, the ECI team held a preparedness review meeting with district election officers and Superintendent of Police (SP) of 20 Assam election districts.
The meeting held at the conference hall of Brahmaputra Crackers and Polymers Limited (BCPL) in Dibrugarh discussed various issues related to the smooth, free and fair polls in the State.
On Tuesday (January 12), a similar meeting will be held by the visiting ECI delegation with the other district election officers and SPs in Guwahati.
The ECI also comprises of Senior Principal Secretary – Narendra N Butolia, Pankaj Srivastava, Ashok Kumar, Vijay Pandey, and Vipin Katara.
Also read: Assam: Broad daylight firing in Goalpara, 6 injured
During their visit, the ECI delegation will also meet Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah and other senior officials of the State Government to discuss preparedness for the upcoming Assam Assembly Elections.
Notably, elections to the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly are likely to be held in March-April this year.
Meanwhile, the ECI has rolled out a set of directions for the election-bound States including Assam.
The ECI, in its directions, reminded the election-bound States not to assign any election-related duties to officials who have been charged for any lapse in any election in the past.
The ECI has dispatched an advisory to the Chief Secretaries of the States of Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, where polls are scheduled to be held during the first half of this year.
Also read: Hindu Mahasabha opens study centre on Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse in Madhya Pradesh
In its advisory, the ECI said that officers against whom it had recommended disciplinary action in past and which is pending or has resulted in a penalty should also not be deployed for poll-related work.